if we keep this up, our house is going to look like THIS when we have children….
Sometimes, you look around and realize everything is changing. This is a good thing, a terrifying thing, and one of those things about growing up that you just can’t change. I am getting married in five months and I have been waiting for this time to come since I was a little girl. Yet, with it comes complicated things like moving across the country for your fiance’s work, learning how to put someone else’s needs before your own, adopting a second animal when you already felt guilty about not spending enough time with the first… and, of course, figuring out how to clean for two.
Josh has often accused me of being a “fashion hoarder.” And to that end, I must admit to my horror after we fled Brooklyn with him telling me to bring “just the essentials!”, when I discovered a large box of vintage cell phones had snuck its way into his packing list. What?!
Josh and I both have major OCD. But the funny thing about compulsive cleaning and organization is that when you are so busy that you can’t handle it the way you want to, many are unable to do anything at all. Thus, you find yourself coming home from a pleasant Tuesday at work and looking around your apartment in horror.
How did this happen?
There are dirty clothes on the floor in most of our rooms, clean ones folded and stacked from here to the ceiling in the living room. There is a constant stream of dishes going in and out of the dishwasher and yet always a stray glass by the computer, fork under the coffee table, and so on.
Between focusing on my career, nurturing my relationship with my wonderful husband-to-be, making new friends in a new city, and of course holding on dearly to those from home, things have gotten a bit hectic. But today is the day to turn a (minor) life problem into a (major) life change.
Am I ever going to be the perfect housewife who leaves not a single surface undusted and whose family comes home to individually personalized cubby holes with their monograms at the top and a color-coded system below? Um, no. But maybe one day I’ll be able to afford to hire someone to come in and do that for me. (Hey, a girl can dream.)
When I was a little girl, and then a teenager, and then a college student, and then a starving editorial assistant living in Manhattan… I would have these major revelations about my personal messiness and go on massive cleaning binges. At the end, there would be bags of items to give away, and everything left was lined up in rainbow order, labeled and put away. My mom or dad would always say, “This looks great! Now, are you going to keep it this way???”
This past Sunday I chatted with my dad and offhandedly remarked that I planned to set aside some time to truly organize this walk-in closet, get Joshy’s man cave spic and span, and step up my kitchen game so that one half of the counter was no longer cluttered with paperwork we’ve accumulated since August. His response?
“That sounds great! Now, are you going to keep it that way???”
Let’s see!
PS – I will post before and afters; stay tuned.
a lofty, yet wonderful, goal.
